X-High
by Elixr
Summary: In an AU, the X-Men are still in high school. Follow your favourite characters as they navigate the waters of being a teenager with superpowers.
1. Chapter 1

**X-High**

*Disclaimer: I do not own any marvel characters.

 **Chapter 1**

 ** _Scott_**

Scott Summers could not believe his eyes. He was surrounded by so many hormone-filled, acne-ridden teenagers that he did not know what to do with himself. It was his first day starting at Greenfield High, having transferred from his small town high school, and already he was overwhelmed.

He looked down at his schedule nervously, hoping that it would give him some sort of clue as to what to do next, but he couldn't make sense of where his classes were located. He squinted at it desperately through his ruby glasses, not seeing the especially angsty teen that he was about to walk into.

"Watch it, bub!" He snarled as Scott was knocked onto the ground. "I'm tryna walk here."

"Sorry," Scott mumbled. He felt around desperately for his glasses, keeping his eyes tight shut. He had to find them! He had already ruined whatever chance he had of fitting in at his last school, and he was determined not to do the same thing here.

"Looking for these?" Asked a sweet voice in front of Scott. She laughed and opened the glasses, placing them on his face.

"Uh thanks," he looked up to see a beautiful red headed girl. Everything had a red hue from under his glasses, but he could tell that her hair was something else, something special. She was probably the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, causing his to go from nervous to down right terrified.

"I'm Jean." She said and extended a dainty hand.

"Scott." He was suddenly very self-conscious about how sweaty his hands were so he drew it back after shaking her hand and wiped it on his worn jeans. He immediately regretted this action, wishing that he could touch her again.

"You must be new, running into Logan like that. What class do you have first?" She inquired, stepping closer So that she could see his schedule. "History. Me too! I'll walk you there, I just need to stop at my locker."

"Uh okay," Scott replied, certain that he sounded like a total idiot.

Jean pulled his down the long corridor and stopped at a blue metal door. She spun the metal lock and swung the locker door open. Scott looked curiously at the many photos that lined the door. Most of the photos were taken with other girls- soccer practices, cheerleading, and what looked to be a few birthday parties, but there were a few taken with guys. Jean seemed very popular, especially with the opposite sex and Scott felt a great feeling of jealously well up in his throat. He wondered then if she was single.

"I am."

"What?"

"Single." Jean smiled a knowing smile at him. She then bowed her head slightly and turned a little pink, as if she had revealed something that she wasn't supposed to. All that Scott could think about in that moment was how cute she looked. She retrieved her books and closed the locker once more.

There was an awkward silence after that, as Scott wasn't sure how to respond to her statement. It was like she had read his mind. Jean said nothing more about the subject, and signalled for Scott to follow her down the hall again.

"Here's our class," Jean informed him as they reached a large grey door. The room inside was very different from the entrance, as it was covered in posters, multicoloured paper and stickers. Scott thought the posters were a little morbid as they depicted some of the more gruesome scenes from the world wars in bright colours.

Scott followed the red-head into the large class which was already beginning to fill up, despite the fact that they were ten minutes early. Jean sat down in a chair near the middle of the class and gestured for Scott to sit in the seat next to hers.

"Thanks," Scott said gratefully. "I think I probably would have been lost if not for you."

Jean smiled and turned to the people next to her. "Scott, this is Hank, Warren, Anna Marie and Ororo."

Scott returned their friendly smiles but remained unable to take his eyes off of Jean. Not that they would be able to tell through his thick ruby glasses.

Across the room Scott spotted the guy that he had previously run into in the hallway, who Jean had identified as "Logan". He was seated in the back corner of the class next to another boy who had an odd appearance, almost as if he was shifting, although he was not moving at all.

"Alright class," said a dreary man at the front of the class who's appearance was extremely fitting for that of a history teacher, but not at all for the theme of the brightly coloured room. "Open your textbooks to page 45."

History class trudged by at an unbearably slow rate. The only thing that made the class survivable for Scott was watching Jean take notes at the same time as him. This did, however, put him on bad footing with his new teacher as he was having a lot of trouble focusing on the lesson.

When the bell eventually did ring, Scott sighed as he was forced to separate from Jean. He managed to eventually find his way to his math class, but it took a great deal of searching and confused glances at his timetable. Math class once again passed slowly, as history had. The teacher droned on about quadratic formulas and lines but Scott paid little attention as he had learned most of the material already at his previous school.

The teacher barely got through the lesson in time before the bell rang, freeing the students from their prison of algebra. One student was not happy that she was not able to finish though. "I was enjoying that. I can't believe that we didn't get all the way through." A very large student named Hank muttered angrily.

"Oh Hank," a boy named Bobby laughed, "can I trade brains with you for the test?"

"That would be quite impossible, Robert."

Scott walked silently to the cafeteria for lunch, hoping to spot a flaming head of hair to sit with. She waved to him from across the packed room as soon as she saw him, beaconing him to her already crowded table. Scott felt a smile spread across his usually fairly uptight face.

"Hi," he muttered, squeezing his way into one of the packed benches. "How good is the food here?"

"Ha!" Laughed a petite girl with brown hair. "I wouldn't wish it to poison my worst enemy!"

"It's not that bad, Kitty!" Mumbled Bobby through a mouthful of pudding. "It's just that you'll probably find a few hairs in it."

"Try a hair ball." Said Warren with a disgusted look as he pulled multiple long strings of hair out of his food.

Scott made a face at the display, "I'll remember to bring change for the vending machine tomorrow."

"You can share mine today. I don't live in residence." Smiled Jean, pushing her lunch of chicken salad and an apple closer to Scott. "I have an extra fork."

"Thanks." He replied greatfully as he could hear his stomach growling angrily.

Scott spent most of the lunch period trying not to eat all of Jean's salad and listening to the group discuss the physics assignment that was apparently due in three days time.

"Professor Xavier's being tough with this one." Warren stated. "You'd almost think he wants us to fail."

The others nodded in agreement. Scott could only wonder what the assignment was, he had physics the next period though, so he guessed that he would not have to wait very long.

"Hey, Scott, have you been to your dorm yet?" Ororo inquired.

"Not yet." Scott replied. "I got here fairly quickly and I haven't really had time to go there today."

"I wonder who you'll be rooming with?" Said Jean aloud.

The bell rang loudly, disrupting their conversation and causing the teens to disperse from the table. Scott followed the group to a medium-sized classroom with a warm feel. It was decorated mostly with mohagany wood and bookshelves and had few of the brightly coloured papers and posters that the rest of the school sported. This gave it an overall more adult feel, immensely different from the overtly high school-esc feel of the rest of Greenfield.

"Good afternoon, class." Said a wheelchair bound bald man at the front of the room. "Let's pick up where we left of yesterday, shall we?"

The rest of the class all seemed to know exactly what to do as they rifled through their books, but Scott was dumbfounded. He stared at his textbook blankly. The area of physics that the class was studying was far more advanced than anything that he had done at his previous school. He sat through the lesson, which seemed to take even long than other classes and hoped that someone in the class would be able to help him afterwards.

When the class was over, Scott collected his books right away, eager to leave the unusual course.

"Mr. Summers?" Said a voice from behind him with a slightly British accent. "May I see you for a moment, please?"

Scott turned around and walked to the front of the classroom where Professor Xavier was. "Yes, sir?"

"I get the feeling that you may be a little further behind in this subject than the rest of my class. I know that this is your first day, but I would like to offer to tutor you outside of class to ensure that you don't fall to far behind." The Professor explained.

"Sure," Scott said, relieved. He had been sure that he was in trouble. "That would be great."

"Alright, you can come by my office around four O'clock tomorrow."

P.E. passed by quickly for Scott with nothing too exciting. He had always managed to find his footing in gym class and he didn't gather that the teacher even noticed that he was new.

The final bell eventually rang, telling Scott that he was free from the school day. He changed out of his sweaty gym clothes and traveled back into the school. He had hoped to find Jean, but he could not see her first head of hair in the crowd, so he resigned to find her again later.

He walked up the long stairs to the boys section of the dormitory. He squinted down at his timetable which had his dormroom marked on it, but couldn't make out the words. Someone had spilled water all over it while he was in the change room, making the writing incomprehensible. He walked along the hallway instead, hoping to spot his name.

It took him a while, but eventually he saw the name "Summers, Scott" written hastily beside a wooden door. He sighed and entered the room, expecting to find his luggage already there. The first thing he noticed about the room was its musk. It smelled like stale smoke and booze, not something you would expect to smell in the dorm of a very prestigious school. Especially not the dormroom of Scott Summers.

He looked around the dark room to see that it was absolutely filthy. The only relatively clean spot in the whole area was Scott's new bed, which had been made in anticipation of his arrival. Although his luggage had been brought in for him, Scott wasn't at all sure that he wanted to stay in this dorm. He wondered who his roommate could be that was so messy.

A low whistle erupted from behind Scott was he thought this. "Well well well. This is gonna be different." Muttered Logan with a mix between sarcasm and general rudeness. He donned a leather jacket and bandages all around his hands.

Scott couldn't believe it. Of all of the people that he possibly could have roomed with, he ended up with the one person that he had pissed off that day. He went through the door so that he could see the names written beside it. Sure enough, "Howlet, Logan" was directly beneath his own name. His good day had just taken a turn for the worst.

 **Please R/R :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 _*Author's note: thanks for the reviews, everyone! It means a lot!_

 ** _Charles_**

Charles Xavier sat in his custom-made leather wheelchair. He watched his students from the window of his office as they sat outside for lunch. There were so many of them, so many mutants.

There was a loud knock on his door that disrupted his absent daydream. "Professor?" Asked a young voice from behind him.

"Yes, Scott. Please come in." He replied, smiling and gesturing to the seat at the other end of his large desk. "Thank you for joining me." He said as the young man sat down opposite him. He felt rather bad for Scott, he looked very tired. However, he had chosen to place them together as roommates for a reason. He hoped soon this his idea would pan out, and the two boys would grow and become stronger because of the situation.

"You wanted to see me about your physics class?"

"Yes, well that and I must admit I did have alterior motives for wanting you to come here today." Charles stopped and studied the teen's impasive face for a moment, thinking of the best way to proceed. "I am a mutant." He said finally.

Scott suddenly looked very uncomfortable as he squirmed around in his seat. "I don't really know what that has to do with me, sir."

 _I think you do_ , the Professor said directly into Scott's mind, making him nearly fall out of his seat in surprise. _You can shoot blasts from your eyes, can you not?_ The last sentence was more of a statement than a question.

Scott simply looked down and did not say anything in return to the Professor's bold statements.

"It's alright, Scott. You are in a safe place. Besides, I'm what's known as a telepath, so I can read other's thoughts. I try not to invade other people's privacy, but it can be difficult when they are nearly screaming their feelings."

"Yeah," Scott replied finally, "I'm a mutant."

The Professor smiled at his young student, "being a mutant is not something to bs ashamed about, Scott. At least not here. I believe that you will have more in common with your new friends than you think."

Scott looked up and gave him a confused look. "Do you mean...?"

"Yes, Jean, Hank, Bobby, Ororo, Kitty and many others also possess the elusive x-gene."

Scott smiled a little when Professor Xavier said Jean's name, but otherwise didn't reply.

"You may go. I know you must want to speak with them about this new information." Said Charles.

"Thanks, Professor, but what about physics?" Scott replied.

"You're much smarter than you think, Scott. If you put some effort in I think you'll surprise yourself." Grinned the Professor. Scott nodded and left the office to find his friends.

 _ **Jean**_

Jean Grey sat on the lawn facing the entrance to Greenfield High School, listening to Bobby try to explain why the movie "Nacho Libre" was so funny. She tried to drown out the noise by distracting herself with the thoughts of everyone around her.

Hank was going over his science homework for the eighth time that day, Peter was trying to figure out the english word for pizza, and Anna-Marie was thinking of ways to kiss Gambit without putting him in a coma. Jean blushed and looked down when a particularly vivid image of the pair flooded Anna-Marie's mind. Her thoughts were interrupted suddenly when a faint British accent spoke.

 _Jean, what have we been talking about? You cannot invade other people's privacy like that._

 _Sorry, Professor._ Replied Jean through telepathy. She tuned back into the not-so-witty banter in front of her.

"You just don't get it." Bobby said.

"What is there to get?" Hank replied. "The jokes aren't funny, and there is no plot."

"Maybe you're just not mature enough to get it." Bobby muttered

"Or maybe I'm _too_ mature to get it."

Jean sighed and placed her head in her hand so that it was tilted at a 45 degree angle. She sat up suddenly when she saw a lanky boy with red glasses and tousled brown hair walking hurriedly towards the group. He sat down quickly and Jean smiled at him, happy to have a distraction from the conversation.

"Hey, um..." Scott started and then stopped again. He looked away quickly and avoided Jean's eye contact. "Never mind."

"No!" Jean protested with a wide smile, giving Scott a friendly punch on the shoulder. "What were you going to say?"

"Not here." Scott pulled her off of the grass and lead her along by the arm and then turned back to the group still chatting. "You guys can come too, if you want."

"Come where?" Someone said from behind them, but Jean followed Scott and didn't answer.

They stopped behind the football field bleachers, hoping to be out of sight. This did not work quite as planned though, since there were at least eight of them.

"What's wrong, Scott?" Jean inquired.

Scott looked down for a moment, he seemed scared. "I was just talking with Professor Xavier. He said some... interesting things."

The group shared a knowing look with each other. The chat with the Professor was something that they had all been through. "He said that we were mutants, didn't he?" Said Warren finally.

"Yeah."

There was an awkward silence for a moment when no one really knew what to say after that. Eventually, Kitty broke the silence. "So, like what can you do?"

Anna-Marie elbowed her in the gut, making her squeal in protest. "What's your problem, Anna-Marie? Someone would have said it eventually!"

Scott seemed sort of afraid, but not so that he wouldn't answer. "I can't really do it here, it's kind of dangerous."

"I know the feeling." Anna-Marie muttered.

"Dangerous in what way?" Jean asked.

"Well... I can shoot optic blasts out of my eyes. If I hit one of you guys then it'll send you flying back pretty far."

"Maybe I can help!" Bobby said excitedly. He lifted his hands in front of him and began to form a huge wall of ice beneath the bleachers.

"Cool!" Scott said in awe. He lifted his ruby glasses and shot a beam directly at the frozen wall. It shattered into a million pieces, causing the students to duck in cover.

"I see what you mean about dangerous!" Said Ororo.

The group sat down beneath the bleachers and began to talk.

"Wow." Scott said after they had all described what they were able to do. "So you really are all mutants. Why are there so many of us at Greenfield? I was the only one in my school before this."

"The Professor tracks us down using a device called Cerebro, then invites us to come to this school." Hank replied.

"So are there others, then? Or is it just this group?" Scott asked.

"No, there are others. Logan, a boy named Kurt, Betsy Braddock, Remy Lebeau, plus the Professor is always trying to track down young mutants so that he can train and protect us. Oh, and there is another group that's lead by Professor Lenshur, though I would stay away from them." Jean explained.

"Wow." Scott muttered. "And I thought that I was just going to have to hide like at my last school."

"Well, you can't exactly just tell everyone about your powers here. There is still a human population that isn't aware of us." Warren said while stretching his huge wings. "But with us, you can be however you'd like."

"Uh oh." Said Bobby, he looked as if he had seen a ghost. "Supper has already started! We gotta go!"

The rest of the group stood up to leave, but Jean noticed that Scott did not stand up with the rest of them. "You go on ahead, we'll catch up." She told the group, sitting back down beside Scott.

"Your loss!" Bobby called back.

"What's up?" Jean asked Scott.

"It's all just a lot to take in." Scott admitted.

"It's like that at first, but don't worry. It'll get better." She smiled.

"Yeah, I think it will." Scott returned her smile and lent forward slightly, so that their faces were almost touching. His hand reached under her chin and lifted her face up. He then kissed her softly on the lips, sliding his tongue in after a moment.

Jean kissed him back, settling into his soft skin and tongue. She pulled away after a moment so that she could get a better look at his face. "Wow." She said, stunned.

"I was so nervous, I didn't think I would be able to do that." Scott smiled back at her and lent forwards for another kiss. They stayed there for a while, neither of them wanting to move despite their growling stomachs. Eventually, Scott pulled away. "The others are going to be wondering where we are." He said.

"Yeah," Jean agreed, leaning on his arm affectionately as the walked out from under the bleachers.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 ** _Erik_**

Erik Lehnsherr sat in his office near the back of the third floor of Greenfield High. It was a large office, larger than any of the other teacher's and it was decorated to the tee. It always helped to plant the woman you were sleeping with in as one of the school's top investors when you wanted nice things. And Erik had many nice things, there was no denying it, he just didn't have the thing he wanted right then.

"So you're trying to tell me that you didn't even attempt to speak with him in the two full days he's been here? You have four classes together! This is why you don't get an imbecile to do a man's job." Erik snarled at a slightly green-skinned boy who was seated across from him.

"I-I'm sorry, sir! It's just that the other kids got there first, and he is always with that Jean girl." He managed to choke out.

"Ah, yes. That'll help your case, mentioning the other failed recruitments on your record. That damn Xavier's probably already swayed him by now, but the situation may be salvageable." Erik said to the skinny boy.

The boy shrunk back into his cushioned seat. He looked stricken, his open mouth revealed an abnormally long tongue and oddly coloured saliva. "I'm sorry, sir. I'll do better next time."

"No, you won't, Mortimer, because there won't be a next time. And as for Summers, I guess that I will just have to take care of him myself." Erik replied pointedly. He left the office with his head held high in disgust, his slightly magenta suit swishing in his wake. He left Mortimer sobbing for forgiveness in his office as he slammed the large doors without touching them.

 _ **Logan**_

"C'mon," A voice said from above. "It's three in the afternoon, most classes are finished. You have no reason not to get up now."

Logan was suddenly and violently accosted with a bright beam of light across his tightly shut eye lids. He growled in dismay at his new roommate and his tendency to disrupt his unusual sleeping habits. "What the hell, Summers? What did I tell ya I'd do if ya ever did that again?"

"Yeah, yeah." Scott rolled his eyes behind his red glasses. "You'll rip my arms from my sockets. If you really want to follow through on that promise then I'll be on the field, otherwise, I will keep doing this earlier and earlier until you have no choice but to go to your classes. You can't keep staying up until five in the morning, doing God knows God knows where and then sleeping 'till dinner."

Logan growled and popped one certain sharp metal claw in the direction of the brown-haired, lanky boy who was already leaving. He rolled over in his bed and tried to ignore the light as he spat silent curse words at Scott. He didn't know what it was about this new roommate, every other one that he had ever been stuck with, he had been able to break. After a few days, they would hardly say a word to him and they would do whatever he said. Then, after about a month and a half of torture, they would ask for a different roommate, leaving Logan in peace for a few weeks until the school could scrounge up a new student out of nowhere. Scott, however, was different. Logan still hadn't been able to find the right buttons to push for him to crack, and he was already behind schedule.

He eventually resigned to his fate and rolled out of bed, putting on the closest clothes to him. There was still time to catch the end of the biology lecture that he was supposed to be in, but he wasn't really in the mood to listen to the last half hour of cell mitosis. He pulled out his pack of cigars and his lighter and went down the stairs, intent on swinging around the corner outside. The last time that he had lit a cigar inside he had lost all off campus privileges for a month, not that the punishment had stopped him from leaving.

Logan leaned against the cold brick wall of the boys dorms, narrowly avoiding the chewed gum that someone had recently stuck to the wall. He chopped the end off of the brown tube and lit it with the orange flame. He brought the cylinder to his lips and breathed in deeply. Because of the nature of his mutation, the smoke wouldn't affect him, which made it all the better to irritate other people with.

He stayed there for a while before deciding to see if Kurt was around. He had almost turned the corner when he heard two familiar voices.

"I have been noticing you lately, Scott," Professor Lehnsherr said. "I've noticed that you seem to be slightly more... Shall we say _advanced_ than some of the other students."

"Advanced in what way, sir?" Scott asked. Logan's acute senses could tell him that they were only a few feet away. He almost felt bad for Scott, Professor Lehnsherr had given him the same spiel when he had arrived, but he had a soft spot for Professor Xavier. He was the only person that had seemed to give a crap for him, he was the only professor that Logan would never pull anything with.

"Advanced in the... Sense of your mutation." Scott looked taken aback from what Logan could see, and he fumbled about with his words for a moment.

"Uh, I'm not sure what you're talking about, sir." He finally decided to say.

The man rolled his eyes, "I had assumed that you were smarter than that, but alas, We can't have everything we want in life. You can shoot lasers out of your eyes, boy. And now that we're past that, I would like to offer you a spot among the most elite of your peers."

"No thank you," Said Scott politely after a moment. "I think I have already found a good fit at this school."

Professor Lehnsherr narrowed his wrinkled eyes, "Are you sure, Scott? Joining me can open many positions not otherwise available. I want you to be sure of your choice." He backed up into the boy, forcing him to step backwards towards the brick wall behind them.

Logan sighed and stamped out his cigar, sure of what he had to do. He walked up to the pair and placed his well-built arm heavily around Scott's shoulders, which was somewhat difficult do to their height difference. "Heya, Slim. Got somethin' I need ya to take care of. Sorry to interrupt, Professor, but it's important." Scott gave him a surprised glance, but followed as Logan's arm guided him away.

"I'm sure it is," Said the Professor, his voice dripping with annoyance. "Just remember, I can get you places, Scott, places that your silly human-loving Xavier can't."

"Thanks." Scott muttered as soon as they were out of earshot of Professor Lehnsherr.

"This ain't a handout, bub." Logan said without looking at him. "You owe me now."

Scott stepped out from under Logan's arm and gave him a cold glare. "Fine." He said, stalking off.

Logan smirked and lit another cigar. That had gone better than expected, Scott was starting to break. He stood alone in the parking lot, trying to look around him, when he spotted a bright head of red hair.

"Heya, Red." He said as he approached Jean.

"Hi, Logan." She smiled. Jean had always been one of those people that could see underneath the layers of growling and moody behaviour. "What's up?"

"Nothing much, my day just got a lot better though." He grinned at her.

"Logan, stop. I've told you before, I'm not interested in you that way."

"That don't mean I can't flirt though."

She sighed and resigned without further protest. "I didn't see you in class today."

"How often do you see me there though?" Logan laughed and took a long drag of his cigar.

Jean broke into a fit out coughing, "I wish you wouldn't smoke those things. You may have a healing factor, but the rest of us don't."

"Sorry, Jeannie." He grinned but did not put out his cigar, making the girl glare.

Ororo and Rogue approached them, followed closely by Scott who had apparently given up on avoiding Logan. It was difficult to see his eyes, but Logan could tell that he didn't like seeing him and Jean together.

"Hey, Logan." Ororo said in a sort of sing-song manner that vastly contrasted her usually commanding tone.

"Hey, Ro." Logan smiled. He had always liked spending time with her.

"Wanna give a girl a drag of that, Sugah?" Rogue asked him, pointing to his cigar.

"Nah, girlie, you don't want to start on these. They're shit on yer lungs." He told her. She pouted at this, but didn't pester him further.

"Hey, Jean," Scott spoke up. "Want to go get burgers or something for dinner?"

"Sure!" Jean said brightly with a smile that showed all of her carefully whitened teeth.

Logan watched the two of them leave with a bitter feeling in his gut. He had always assumed that he and Jean would eventually end up together. This Summers fellow was beginning to become more trouble than her was worth.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 ** _Charles_**

"You can't manipulate everyone, Erik." Charles sighed and placed his head in his hands as his colleague paced his large office.

"Oh yes, this coming from the telepath. Besides, it's not as if the humans notice at all." Erik said with his usual commanding tone.

Charles sighed again. I could be difficult at times to get through to his old friend. "I'm not talking about the humans. I'm speaking about the students that you keep trying to manipulate into joining you. If you would just agree to work together with me, this wouldn't be an issue."

"I have tried to work with you, Charles." Erik nearly snarled. "If you would stop defending your beloved Homo sapiens, then maybe this would work."

Charles tried to compose himself before talking. "Alright, Erik. I understand your frustration, but you can't harass students like that. I saw how you acted earlier with Mr. Summers."

"Scott Summers belongs under the guidance of a teacher who can help him to reach his full potential, just like all of the rest! Not a teacher who will stifle their abilities the moment he has the chance." Erik slammed his fist on the table passionately, causing a metal pen resting on Charles' desk to contort and bend.

"Scott Summers deserves to know all of the facts and to form his own opinion. He cannot do that with you bombarding him every second." Charles stated. "I must ask you to leave now, Erik. I have a class."

"Fine, Charles. But this will not be the last time that we discuss this subject."

"Oh I believe you." Charles muttered under his breath as his rowdy colleague left his office in a fluid movement, slamming the door loudly. Students began to file in almost immediately after he left, leaving Charles without a moments peace.

"Hi, Professor." Kitty said. Her usually chipper voice sounded slightly off.

Charles smiled at her. He didn't want to read her mind, but he was troubled by her tone. "Hello, Kitty. Is everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah, Professor." She smiled. "I'm fine."

"If you're sure, then." He responded. He wasn't entirely convinced of her answer, but class was about to start and the issue would have to wait. "Alright, class! Please turn to page thirty-three in your text books."

There was a loud shuffling noise as the class removed their books from their bags.

"Professor Xavier?" Bobby asked.

Charles spun around in his wheelchair to view his class. It was smaller than most, as you needed a specific invitation to attend. "Yes, Bobby?" The Professor replied.

"Isn't this class supposed to be teaching us how to use our powers? How are we supposed to be doing that when we spend all of our time reading a textbook on mutation?" Bobby asked, sticking out his frozen tongue and dropping his textbook on his desk for effect.

Charles wheeled his chair to the front of the classroom so that he was facing the blackboard. He picked up a piece of chalk and wrote the words 'theory before practice'.

 _We cannot start to understand our abilities without understanding where they come from. We need to truly absorb what they are to be able to use them to their full extent._ He explained to the students using his telepathy. _But don't fret, we will begin to explore your potential soon enough._ _Now class, please once again turn to page 546 so that we can begin._

The rest of the class was fairly routine, with Bobby constantly pretending to fall asleep, Peter trying to translate everything loudly in his head and Hank asking for extra homework every other page.

"Now, I feel that you have all be sufficiently bored out of your skulls, so why don't we go outside and do a bit of hands on learning, shall we?" Professor Xavier suggested.

Almost everyone in the class perked up, except for Hank who was still busy copying notes into his book.

"I will meet you beside the trellis in ten minutes." Charles smiled at the suddenly attentive group.

Professor Xavier wheeled himself out of the large classroom with ease on the linoleum floors. He watched the students chat excitedly with a proud feeling as he made his way to the elevator. He entered the metal box and pushed the button to the first floor.

"Not now, Erik." He sighed without turning to face the tall, greying man behind him.

"You cut me off Charles, it's only fair that I get to choose to continue the conversation." He said in a matter-of-factly manner. "If we were to join our groups together, we could get so much farther. In this school, in this city, in the world! Just think of it Charles! The world finally at the mercy of mutants!"

"That is not the intention that I have for my group. I believe that it should be the mutants' job to support and protect human kind, not to endanger them and force them to fear us."

The elevator stopped moving with jolt. Out of the corner of his eye, Charles could see Erik's hands ball into fists. The tall man moved around so that he could face his college, bending down so that his hands rested on the arms of his wheelchair, and his eyes were at equal level with Charles'.

"They'll never accept us. The only way that we'll ever truly be free is if we create that future for ourselves." Erik nearly growled. Charles could feel his coffee-infused breath on his face, and he backed up his chair so that he could have more room to breathe.

"We are not monsters, and I refuse to see any of my students become one." His voice faltered as he said this. He tried to look back into Erik's eyes with the same intensity, but his scrutinizing gaze was hard to match.

The elevator began to move again with the same awful lurch as when it stopped. Erik stood back up and faced the door, not looking at Charles for the remainder of the ride.

"What are you going to do, Charles," Erik said once the doors began to slide open. "Once they find out who you are? You'll loose your job, your students, everything. And I'll be there to watch you go down in flames."

As he watched his former friend exit the elevator, every ounce of the brazen feeling Charles had just experienced sunk into his stomach and soured into a nervous fear. Did he truly believe what he had been fighting for all of these years? What if someone did find out about them? Had Erik been right all along? He tried to push his feelings and doubts to the back of his mind as he exited the elevator, intent on joining his students with a brave face.

 ** _Ororo_**

The students gathered near the trellis outside of the school. It was during class and the area was well covered with trees, so the chance of them being spotted was low. As well as this fact, Jean and the Professor had set up mental barriers around the area to stop anyone roaming by accidentally.

Ororo stood next to Kitty and Rogue as they waited for the Professor to join them. Eventually, he wheeled out of the building and stopped in front of the group. He had a solem look on his face, and Ororo wondered if something might be wrong.

"Alright, students," Professor Xavier addressed them. "I would like each of you to demonstrate one useful thing about your abilities. It doesn't have to be a fighting technique, although many of your minds probably jumped to that first. I could be something as simple as myself knowing exactly what everyone wants for Christmas. Please form a line and go whenever you are ready."

"Why are we doing this, sir?" A student asked.

"Because in this world, Warren, people will only try to show you the worst about your mutations, how it is dangerous. Here I would like us to consider all that they could do to help us. We're putting a positive spin on something society condemns, shall we say." Professor Xavier replied easily.

Ororo lined up with the rest of her classmates behind Rogue. Bobby went first, he held out his hand so that the group could all see. In the palm of his hand, a set of ice keys appeared.

"In case you ever forget your keys." He said awkwardly, handing the keys to the Professor who's sad look had been replaced with a proud smile.

"Perfect, Bobby. That's a perfect example!" Replied the Professor.

"Thanks." He lifted his arm above his head in a awkward motion.

Logan went next, he had Jean hide in the trees with a telepathic block around her. Within thirty seconds, he was able to track and find her.

"I'm not really sure what to do..." Scott trailed off. "My powers aren't really useful."

"Well you can always settle for looking like the biggest douche inside with those glasses." Logan sneered.

Scott scowled at him and then looked back at the Professor for guidance.

"Can focus in on a specific location, Scott? Surely that could be useful in some form." Professor Xavier offered.

Scott shrugged slightly and sighed before he lifted his glasses. A thin beam of red energy shot out from his eyes and hit the cigar that Logan had been absently smoking, knocking it out of his mouth.

"Hey!" Logan bellowed in protest. Ororo giggled quietly as the scene unfolded. Logan charged at Scott with his fists held high while Scott backed up apprehensively. Obviously no one had taught him that you never mess with Logan's cigars. Professor Xavier intervened before anything bad happened, but Logan was able to get in a few menacing looks and death glares.

"Are you fellas gonna stop so ah can have mah turn? Or should we just all wait while y'all lay 'em out on the table and measure?" Anna-Marie interupted with her arms crossed in an assertive pose.

"You go ahead, Anna-Marie." The Professor assured her.

Anna-Marie did as the Professor said, and went on with her turn although most people were still to enamoured with the fight to notice. She picked up the huge trellis that they were all gathered around and held it high in the air above her head. "Yeah ah can't touch people, but super strength can have its perks." She smirked as most of the people who hadn't been watching looked over and experienced their jaws dropping.

Ororo smiled at her friend as she walked to the back of the line where Bobby, Logan and Scott were already waiting. Ororo stepped up beside the newly repositioned trellis and knelt down beside a blooming forget-me-not. A few of the leaves had wilted in the intense sunlight and we're starting to curl and brown around the edges.

Ororo lifted her hands above the small plant and felt the familiar sensation of calling upon her powers. A tiny rain cloud appeared just above the flower, providing shade and water for the plant.

"Nice job, 'Ro." Logan complimented as she walked to the back. Ororo felt her heart leap in her cher although she wasn't sure exactly why. She and Logan had always be friends, but lately it was beginning to feel like something more than that. At least for her it was. She smiled back at him despite her confused emotions as he lit yet another cigar.

As Kitty was in line behind Ororo, her turn was next. She backed up into, or rather through, the students behind her so that she was standing next to Ororo and Rogue. "You never have to wait in line." Kitty smiled simply.

"Very cool, Katya!" Piotr said appreciatively as he stared at the small girl.

Kitty turned a dark shade of red and bit her lip.

"Kitty!" Ororo whispered to her friend. "You're sinking!"

Kitty looked down in dismay, screaming. Half of her body was submerged in the grass. She tried to rise up and walk forwards, but this only caused her to sink further. In all of her panic, she had run into Piotr who had also started to yell, simply because Kitty was phased through his leg. She eventually was able to raise out of the ground, partially with the help of Jean's telekinesis and the Professor's telepathic calming techniques.

As soon as she was once again whole and on solid ground, she ran in the direction of the school, crying uncontrollably.

"Ororo," The Professor said tentatively after an uncomfortable moment of hushed silence. "Why don't you make sure she's alright?"

Ororo followed Kitty's path towards the school and kept her eyes peeled for any sign of the brunette. The first place she checked was the girls washroom, hoping that she may have gone in there to avoid being seen. Sure enough, there were loud sobs radiating from the last stall in the row.

"Kitty?" Ororo asked quietly, knocking softly on the door. "Are you alright?"

"Go away!" Yelled a choked voice back.

Ororo took her hand away from the stall door but did not leave. "You can tell me what's wrong, you know. I won't judge." Ororo had always been somewhat of a mentor to Kitty since she had arrived. She was three grades ahead of the brunette and had adopted the role of the big sister around her.

Kitty did not respond for a long while, but eventually her sobbing slowed. She opened the stall door and collapsed into Ororo's open arms. "It... It's just that... I wanna be normal!" She finally sobbed to her friend through the metal door. "I don't want to have to take extra classes for freaks or have to worry about falling through the floor whenever my crush opens his mouth!"

"I know. I know." Ororo replied in a soothing voice and stroked the girl's hair. "You're not a freak, Kitty."

"I am though! It was so embarrassing out there! And Piotr was screaming and then I ran away crying like such an idiot!" Kitty blubbered into Ororo's shirt.

"Kitty, we've all done stuff like that! Just last week Jean accidentally said something in telepathy to one of her other professors and now he refuses to even look at her. He thinks she's possessed or something!" Ororo insisted.

This seemed to ease the tension in Kitty's body, and her loud sobs turned into sort of laugh-hiccups. The story may not have been true, but it felt good for Ororo to take down her seemingly perfect roommate just a few notches.

"You'll be okay, Kitty." Ororo murmured into her friend's ear. "We'll get through this together."

 **A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for reading so far, I will try to keep updates coming on a fairly regular basis. Reviews make me happy and encourage me to keep going, so please don't be afraid to share your thoughts. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the long wait! Anyway, here it is._

 **Chapter 5**

 ** _Kurt_**

"Hey dickwad!" A voice called from behind Kurt. A rock soared through the air, crashing into the back of his head, making a loud crack as it collided with the hard surface. "Suck on that you creep!"

Kurt lay still on the ground, not wanting to give the group behind him any more reason to walk over to him. He touched the back of his head tenderly, his fingers coming away sticky and red. At least three of them did, his image inducer, though a life saver, had some serious flaws.

A hand appeared beside him, offering help to his feet.

"Who was it this time?" Logan asked as Kurt brushed himself off.

"Does it matter? It's always the same group and nothing's ever going to change that." Kurt sighed.

"Maybe a head bashing would." Logan growled, pounding one fist into his hand in a vigorous motion. Kurt could see three claws begin to protrude his knuckles. Beads of blood formed and ran down his fingers and pooled in his palm.

Kurt sighed again. Many of his friends did not understand his situation. His image inducer worked, sure, but it simply made him look like a scrawny teen with poor teeth. And then when it malfunctioned, the other students got a glimpse at his true form. While his friends' mutant abilities could sometimes be a nuisance or a danger, they could walk around without being followed by people carrying pitchforks. They could had a regular life without the help of technology. "Violence will not solve anything with these people. I just need to tough it out."

Logan gave him a lopsided glance with one eyebrow in the air and shook his head, "I can't understand you sometimes. C'mon, you're bleeding."

The two boys walked up to Professor Xavier's office to attend to Kurt's wound. Under normal circumstances they would have opted to visit the nurse, but because of Kurt's unique physique, they decided that the Professor would likely be the safer choice.

Logan turned the door handle and stepped into the large office. Kurt looked in to see that the Professor already had a visitor. Professor Lehnsherr stood slightly stooped leaning against a desk. The two men stood glaring at each other and there was a moment of intense silence. Kurt and Logan looked at each other, unsure what to do.

"Come take a seat, Kurt. Professor Lehnsherr was just leaving." Professor Xavier commanded suddenly.

Professor Lehnsherr glared harshly at the other man. It seemed that his leaving was more forced than willing. He exited the room quickly in one swift motion.

"What can I do for you boys?" The Professor asked nonchalantly, as if the past min had not just happened.

"I had a... A bit of a run-in with some students of the rougher nature." Kurt admitted feverishly.

Logan sighed and pushed his friend forward in his ever-aggressive nature. "He got hit in the head with a rock."

Professor Xavier wheel closer so that he could examine the wound. "My, that does look rather nasty. Lucky for you I've taken some first-aid training. I'll have that bandaged up quickly."

As the Professor worked, Logan paced the room. "What did Professor Lehnsherr want?" He asked.

"I'm afraid that information is strictly between he and I." Professor Xavier sighed. "Though I can assure you it's nothing to worry about."

"It sure didn't look like that." Logan growled in reply and sniffed the air suspiciously. "I have to get to my next class."

"So do I." Kurt agreed, sliding off the table and touched the back of his head insticively. _Great_ , he thought, _now I look like a skinny loser who can't defend himself_. "Thank you for all your help, Professor."

"You're welcome Kurt, and remember that it was Mahatma Gandhi that said, _an eye_ _for_ _an eye will only make the whole world blind._ In other words, don't do anything that you'll regret just to look more acceptable in the eyes of your peers."

Kurt stopped at the doorway where he had been about to exit and nodded.

 ** _Anna-Marie_**

"Hey, Marie!" Kitty called from down the hallway. She looked a little worn out, but otherwise her chipper self. "Did you get the notes from history? Professor Newman talked way too fast for me. I missed like the entire thing."

Anna-Marie laughed, "more like ya spent the whole period textin'! Yeah Ah got them, Sugah."

As she handed the notes to Kitty, their fingers brushed slightly, sending an unnevering chill down Marie's back. She was glad that she had the gloves on, but she hated having to use them.

"Thanks a million! Wanna go down to the courtyard?" Kitty said, with more of statement than a question as she pulled Anna-Marie down the hallway. Kitty reached the courtyard in no time as she towed Anna-Marie behind her. "Hey, guys!" She shouted eagerly as she spotted a group seated around a picnic bench.

Anna-Marie sighed. It wasn't as if she didn't want to spend time with her friends, but it had been a long day and she was an introvert. She eyed Kitty menacingly, trying to convey her feelings, but the freshman didn't seem at all fazed and continued pulling her along. Anna-Marie was a junior, but still somehow ended up with Kitty as her roommate, after her old one, well, ended up in a coma.

"Hi Kitty, Anna-Marie!" Jean smiled at the approaching pair.

"Wow, your name can really be a mouthful, Anna-Marie." Kitty, ever the chatterbox, continued talking despite the presence of other people. "Can I, like, shorten it to something?"

Anna-Marie was quite for a moment. It wasn't like the idea had never popped into her head. "Yeah... Maybe 'Rogue'."

Kitty tiled her head slightly in confusion, "why 'Rogue'? I was thinking like just 'Anna' or 'Marie'."

Anna sighed and felt her face go slightly pink as the others stared at her, suddenly a part of their conversation. "It like, I dunno, like a codename or somethin'. Ta go with mah powers 'n all."

"But what does 'Rogue' have to do with creepy put-people-in-comas-and-steal-their-memories powers?" Bobby grinned and then scooted away quickly, narrowly avoiding Anna-Marie's punch.

"Well, Ah figure that since Ah'm kinda alone on the now bein' able ta touch people thing, and mah powers are a touch creepy, that makes me a bit o' a Rogue. Don't ya think?" Anna-Marie replied while shooting death looks in Bobby's misguided direction.

"Alright then, Roguey, if you get a code name I want one too," Kitty smiled, "Maybe 'Shadowcat' or 'Sprite'."

"What, like the soft drink? No, I like Shadowcat better." Warren said. "I wanna be 'Angel'"

"I call Iceman!" Bobby sputtered.

"No one else would take that name, Bobby. I'll be Phoenix." Jean stated.

"I will be 'колосс' or as I believe it translates, Colossus." Peter managed to say, with some mental help from Jean who had become sort of his mental tutor.

"I wanna be Cyclops." Scott added.

"Ooh, Ororo you should be 'Storm', Kurt, you should be 'Nightcrawler', and Logan you should be something really scary like 'Lion', or 'Tiger' or 'Bear'." Kitty supplied, to which the former two both nodded and smiled, while Logan merely grunted.

"Kitty, I believe that you have watched 'the Wizard of Oz' a few too many times. Logan should be known as the 'Wolverine'. They happen to be very fierce creatures with stocky builds and are very strong for their size. Much like our friend here. And since we are on the subject of names, I would like to be called, 'Beast' for my animal-like traits." Hank said with a knowledgeable tone.

"Alrighty, well Ah guess Ah started a trend. I gotta get ta class." Rogue said.

"I do too, I'll walk with you Roguey." Kitty smiled.

 _A/N: Thanks for reading folks, sorry for not being more punctual. There are a lot of X-men characters out there, and it would really help me out if you could either comment or message me which character(s) you would like to hear from next (can be a repeat). Thanks so much!_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 ** _Scott_**

"Logan! What the hell?" Scott screamed as he forcibly pushed open the door to the boys' shared dorm room through the pile of clothes, garbage and empty beer cans. "I put up with a lot of shit from you. I let you leave your crap everywhere, but enough is enough.

You cannot, I repeat, cannot host parties in here without telling me. I found flyers posted all over school about a so-called 'party' tonight hosted right here. I refuse to let my reputation be tarnished by yours." He continued to scream, waving a brightly coloured piece of paper in front of Logan's face.

"How long have you been practicing that speech, Slim? Gimme that." Logan sighed from his perch atop a mountain of dirty laundry where he was playing a level of COD and crushing empty beer cans in his hand. He winced as the metal dug into his skin and healed over quickly. "I ain't got nothin' to do with this. It's a prank Bobby and Warren play every year on someone. A buncha people show up, trash the place and then leave. Ya gotta lighten up, Bub. Here, have a beer."

Scott's face twisted horribly as he stared at his roommate in disgust. "Lighten up? LIGHTEN UP? I've only been here three weeks and I've already dealt with more from you than I have with anyone in my seventeen years on this planet. I do not need to 'lighten up', I need a new roommate." He said in a voice that teetered on rage. He threw a beer can on the ground in sort of a desperate anger and defiantly made has way out of the room.

"Heh, I knew I'd break ya." Logan chuckled from behind him, not looking up from his video game.

"Excuse me?" Scott stopped dead in his tracks.

"You heard me. I. Broke. You."

Scott shook his head, he didn't want to get in the fight any deeper. With Logan, things tended to escalate to fist fights, and Scott had never been a hand-to-hand combat kind of guy. Instead, he merely walked quickly to Professor Xavier's office, still fuming from the encounter with his aggressive peer.

"Ah, Scott!" Professor Xavier said as he spotted the boy walking down the hallway. "I was just about to call you into my office. I have something important to discuss." He continued, eyeing Scott suspiciously. "But I take it that you're here for a different reason. Come in."

"I want to switch roommates." Scott stated without waiting for the two of them to get settled at the Professor's desk.

Professor Xavier sighed and placed his head upon his hands which formed a triangular shape. He stared at Scott for what felt like an eternity before answering. "Logan has always been hard to find a roommate for."

"I understand that Professor, but I don't think I can take any more abus-"

"Let me finish, Scott. I specifically requested that the two of you be placed in the same room for a reason. Can you think of why that may be?"

Scott thought for a moment with no avail. He had no idea. "Was it like a permanent detention or something?"

"No my dear boy!" The Professor chuckled, "I have been looking for someone with the courage and leadership skills to stand up to Logan. I believed that I had found that in you. Someone who is strong, capable, and can hold their own in an argument. Are you telling me that I was wrong?"

Scott hung his head, "No, Professor. It's just that... I don't know..."

"It's just that Logan can be quite difficult. I'm not saying that the arrangement will be easy, but I am saying that I think you should give it a little more time. You may find that you form some respect for one another."

Scott nodded his head in agreement. He couldn't argue with the Professor, but he still wasn't happy about the arrangement.

"Now," Professor Xavier started again, "I was going to call you down here to discuss a different matter. As I stated before, I see a lot of potential in you, Scott. I think that you have a great aptitude for leadership. So, I would like to propose an opportunity for you. I assume that you are staying at the school for the long weekend, correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Such is the case with a few of your classmates who have nowhere to go, or home is too far to travel back for a mere three days. So, I have decided to set up a bit of an excursion of sorts for anyone interested. It would be a camping trip that would involve team building, leadership exersizes and many other activities to strengthen each member's individual gifts.

That being said, I cannot run this trip alone. I need someone who can lead exersizes, and help form bonds between these students who isn't bound to a chair. I have considered you, Scott, because, like I have already stated several times, I see a lot of potential in you. I think it would be extremely beneficial to you and your peers if you took on a leadership position." Professor Xavier finished.

Scott stared at him for a minute, rather aghast. "I don't know what to say, Professor. I've only been here for three weeks. Do you really think that I'm the best person for this? What about Ororo or Jean?"

"As I have said, Scott. I have faith in you, something that you should try having in yourself. You may just be surprised."

Scott nodded, bearly losing his glasses in the process. He walked quickly out of the room, his roommate situation completely forgotten until he reached his destination. People had already begun to pile into the little dorm room, blasting music and dancing in manors against the strict school policy. He could feel the blood rush to his face as people squished themselves into the tight space and unknowingly ground chips and other snacks into the once-clean carpet.

"You know," Jean said from behind him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, "not everything has to be about the rules. You're allowed to have fun every once and a while."

Scott stared at her, mouth open. "Why are you here this late? I thought you didn't live on campus?"

Jean just smiled at him and took his hands in hers. "C'mon, dance with me!"

Scott returned her wide smile and followed her to the middle of his dorm where people were dancing, and grabbed a beer along the way.

 ** _Logan_**

"Are you ready to go yet, Logan?" Kurt's voice floated down the hallway and into Logan's dorm room where it woke him from his heavy sleep.

Logan merely grunted and rolled off his bed, landing with a bang on the floor. He picked up a duffle bag that was hidden beneath his bed and tossed some clothes and a sleeping bag in. He then proceeded to find a somewhat clean outfit and join his classmates outside.

"Sorry I'm late." He mumbled, still wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"That's quite alright, Logan. We were still waiting for a few people to arrive anyways." Professor Xavier confessed.

Logan nodded and threw his bag through the open compartment in the bottom of the small bus. He then proceeded to climb onboard.

"Hey Jeannie," he greeted the redhead in the first seat. "I thought you were with your parents this weekend?"

"They decided to go skiing in Vermont, and I wanted to come on the trip anyways." She smiled.

"Mind if I sit down, then?"

"Oh," Jean's face fell, "well I kind of already promised Scott that I would sit with him..."

Logan nodded and shrugged his leather jacket further onto his shoulders, feeling rather defeated. He's spotted Kurt sitting in the back of the bus alone, and decided to take a seat with him.

"Ugh, Logan!" Kurt coughed as he sat down, holding his nose in disgust. "Did you smoke a whole pack today?"

Logan laughed and scooted closer to his friend on the seat, making sure that his musky odor would not be missed. "You're one to talk, you don't even notice the sulphur smell when you 'port anymore."

Logan watched the front of the bus with a numb feeling in his gut as Scott took his seat next to Jean. He had only been at the school for a few weeks, and yet he had already set up camp in every area of his life. As he watched them, he noticed Ororo seated next to Anna-Marie. She flipped her long white hair in one absentminded motion so that it reflected the bright sun and took on a near iridescent quality.

"Alright, students," Professor Xavier addressed the group. "I believe that all ten of you are present and accounted for, so unless there are anyother matters that need further investigation, we will be off. Recently I have received word that you have all given one another 'codenames', so to speak. In my opinion, it is an excellent idea, that will encourage you to embrace your abilities. This weekend, I would like you to only use those names when addressing one another. Okay, let's go!"

Scott stood from his seat, and helped the Professor by clipping his wheelchair to the wall. He then returned to his seat and slid his arm around Jean's shoulders.

"How about it, Wolverine? Are you excited for the weekend?" Kurt asked excitedly.

"Whatever you say, Elf. I'm gonna get some shut eye."

"Hey, Elf's not my name! It's Nightcrawler!" Kurt said proudly, puffing out his chest and raising his arm in the air as if extending a sword.

Logan's quest for a nap turned out to be in vain, as many of his classmates, lead by Kitty, began to sing '99 bottles of beer on the wall' for the duration of the ride. By the time of their arrival, everyone except Logan had joined in.

"3 bottles of beer on the wall, 3 bottles of beer on the wall!" Kitty sang from her new perch on the racks above the seats. If she weren't intangible, she would have caused the racks to fall nearly ten verses prior. "Take one down, pass it around, two bottles of beer on the wall!"


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Hey readers! I just wanted to say thank you for the continued support, reviews and follows on this story despite the fact that I'm the worst updater in the history of human_ _existence. The constructive criticism is also AMAZING! Please keep that coming. Anyways, thank you!_

 **Chapter 7**

 ** _Cyclops_**

 _Day 1 of the camping trip._

"Lo-Wolverine, do you want to give us a hand here?" Iceman asked through gritted teeth as he tried to bend a tent pole in a direction that it was never intended to bend.

"Why? I ain't gonna be sleepin' in it." He replied while using one claw to cut the end off of a thick cigar.

"Where do you sleep, Comrade?" Colossus questioned in his stunted mannor, accidentally snapping a pole between his fingers.

Wolverine breathed in a long breath of smoke and released in in an O shape. "Outside, like any real man would."

Cyclops sighed and continued helping to put the tent together. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with his classmates' antics. "Wolverine, help us or go somewhere else."

Wolverine scoffed, but picked up a tent pole and began to help the small group of boys. He may not have been happy about it, but at the very least he was helping.

While the rest of the boys struggled to put their tent together, a voice popped into Cyclops' head. _Cyclops, meet me at the large field beside our campsite for our first training exercise,_ Professor Xavier commanded.

Cyclops handed his tent pole which he had been trying to put together to Bobby, and obediently walked in the direction of the field. As he approached the area, his eyes grew wider, and he became amazed at the sight before him. The entire field had been decked out in expensive football equipment (none of which Cyclops could name, as he had never been much of a jock type), spray paint and other training equipment.

"What is this?" Cyclops asked, a little taken aback by the scene.

"This," Explained the Professor, "is where we will train your classmates to fight without using their powers. It's easy enough to fight when you have things like optic blasts, but you all need to learn how to hold your own in a situation where you don't have the option to use your powers, readily available as they might seem."

"Why would we need to do that? Who's coming after us?"

"Scott," Professor Xavier signed, "in my long life time, I have seen more fear and violence from the human race than I think anyone would like to know. We may all feel rather safe right now, since the government does not yet know the extent of the mutant population, but there will come a time when that won't be the case. It is my job to make sure that you are all ready for that. Now, you are going to be leading this exercise, so I need you to test the obstacle course first."

Cyclops nodded his head and trotted over to where two pylons had been placed as a starting line. He crouched slightly and placed one foot behind the other, mimicking the running position he had observed, but never actually used.

The Professor's voice loudly rang out in his mind, shouting, _three... two... one... go!_

Cyclops sprinted eagerly down the track contained by two white lines of duct tape, not slowing down until he reached a line of tires that he would have to step through. He went rather slowly through the tires, tripping twice before he was able to move to the next obstacle.

Up next was a large wall with small footholds up the side. He gingerly placed his foot on one, and when it did not break under his weight, he swiftly proceeded up the wall. He was better at climbing than he was at the tires.

Once he reached the top of the wall, he jumped down and landed clumsily on the other side. As he tried to get to his feet, he felt something catch his leg, and was immediately ambushed with a hoard of cardboard-cut-out pop-ups shaped like government agents. One hit Cyclops square in the face as it popped up from the grass, causing the teenager to let out a girlish scream. He was knocked to the ground, reduced to a confused ball holding his bloody nose.

"That's alright, Cyclops. It is a very difficult course. You can just start over until you finish it." Professor Xavier assured.

" _If_ I finish it," Cyclops corrected as he stood up and wiped the blood from his face.

* * *

It took Cyclops three more tries to complete the course, prompting the Professor to remove a few obstacles to make it easier on the rest of the students. They were all summoned telepathically once the course had been fixed.

"Alright, form a line between those trees." Cyclops said, a whistle dangling from between his teeth. The students had all been told to gather at the neighbouring field, none of them having been told anything except that there would be some sort of race. "Now, the first two people to reach that pine over there Get to pick teams for the race. Powers are aloud. Three... Two... One... Go!"

The students sprinted forward, each of them with their eyes fixed on the pine tree across the way. Within a few seconds, it was clear who the top competitors were.

Wolverine, possessing heightened abilities such as speed, had pulled ahead of the group immediately. Shadowcat had used her intangibility to float above the group and bypass the pushing and shoving that was happening below. The clear winner, however, was Nightcrawler who had just teleported to the tree and claimed the first of two winning spots.

Once everyone had seen that there was only one spot remaining, people began to scramble. Phoenix used her telepathy to cause everyone but her to trip, Iceman put strategic patches of ice in front of his competitors, and Storm caused gusts of winds to make it incredibly difficult for anyone to move forward. In the end, Shadowcat reached the tree first, joining Nightcrawler as one of the winners.

"Good hustle, everyone." Cyclops commended. "Okay, since Kurt won, he gets to pick first. Oh and I'm joining you guys for this."

"Alright," Nightcrawler paused, "I want you on my team then, since you seem to know what we're doing."

Shadowcat spoke after Nightcrawler, "I'll take Wolverine."

"Storm."

"Phoenix."

"Iceman."

"Psylocke."

"Rogue."

"Colossus."

"Okay then," Cyclops ordered once everyone had joined their respective teams, "follow me to the large field.

* * *

"What the hell is this mess, Slim?" Wolverine scoffed once they reached the enormous obstacle course.

"This is what we'll be using to compete. Okay, team captains, you're up first." Cyclops instructed.

Shadowcat and Nightcrawler each walked over to the obstacle course and prepared to start.

"Oh and one more thing, no powers for this! Three, two, one, go!" Cyclops said quickly, leaving the two competitors extremely confused as they were forced to face down the track.

As it turned out, neither Nightcrawler nor Shadowcat were very athletic without their abilities. They both put out a performance worse than Cyclops. Shadowcat finally finished first after a long and gruelling race to the finish line.

Wolverine and Psyclocke were next to try their luck with the course. Rogue completed the course quickly and easily, but still fell short of Wolverine, who finished in record time.

"That's not fair!" Psylocke complained as the two circled back to the group. "He has that damn super speed of his! There's no way I could have won against that!"

"Hey! I won fair and square. I can't help it if I can't turn off my powers! Anyways, you should know how that feels." Wolverine argued.

"Now, now," intervened Professor X, "Psylocke is right on this front. Wolverine had the clear advantage in this race. I think that you should go again and give Rogue a head start, just to make thing fair."

"Fair? FAIR?" Wolverine erupted, even letting a slight growl loose, "you wanna talk about fair? Is it 'fair' that I have no idea where I came from, what that government program you found me in did to me, or how I ended up at this shit school? Is it 'fair' that I have to live each day weighed down by a million pounds of metal on my bones, and the only way I can actually move my body is by this so-called advantage of super strength and speed?

Is it fair that it hurts every time that I pop my claws, or that I have to wear fucking bandages around my knuckles so that people don't loose their shit when my claws make my hands bleed? You really want to talk about 'fair' to me?" he finished, giving everyone a little display of what happened when his claws came out. They all watched in silence as little beads of blood dripped down his vertical fist, staying for a second after being absorbed by the well-placed bandages. He quickly sheathed his claws, making the mesmerized group jump a little at the suddenness. He then turned on his heel and stalked off into the trees.

"Should I go after him, Professor?" Cyclops asked after a moment of awkward silence and nervous shuffling.

"No." Professor Xavier sighed. "Wolverine needs to be alone right now to work through some things."

 ** _Storm_**

Storm lay down quickly on her little blow-up mattress in her tent which she shared with the four other girls. She had stayed out much later than she was supposed to, as she rarely got the chance to be that alone with nature anymore, and all of the other girls had fallen asleep by the time she finally retired to her bed.

She tossed and turned for about half an hour while listening to Rogue snore. The sound filled the tent, and bounced off of the walls, causing the enclosed area to seem smaller than it really was. Storm's breathing quickened, and she suddenly became extremely aware of how constructing her sleeping bag was.

She forced it off of herself in a terrified panic, but was still plagued with the feeling of dread in the stomach. The wall seemed to grow smaller by the minute as she rocked back and forth. Storm felt around for the zipper to the tent door and unzipped it quickly, finally feeling as if she were able to breathe as she felt the cold breeze on her face. There was no chance that she would be able to sleep in there that night.

She stumbled to her feet in the pitch black, rubbing her feet over the cold grass, already coated with the early morning dew. She shrugged a sweater on and decided to take a walk. She followed a well-worn trail in a part of the woods near their campground, taking full advantage of the fact that no one was there to see her use the wind stream to fly a few feet off of the ground.

The further she went, the higher she moved off of the ground. Eventually, she was so high up that she could brush the top of the huge trees with her fingertips. She sped quickly along the wind stream for hours, an expression of pure joy on her face. As the sun began to peak above the horizon line, however, she made the difficult decision to loop back to where she vaguely remembered the campsite being.

She floated gracefully to the ground, her long white hair billowing behind her like a cloud. She turned around quickly, expecting to see nothing more than tree in the dim lighting, but instead was greeted by the brooding face of Wolverine.

"Hi, 'Ro." He grunted and attempted to move past her.

"Wolverine! Wait!" She called back, grabbing his arm to keep him planted in front of her. "Where are you going?"

"I dunno."

"What do you mean 'I dunno'? After the stunt you pulled this afternoon, everyone is very worried about you. I think you owe them an explanation of some kind as to why you never came back." Storm said, using crossed arms and her tapping foot to symbolize her displeasure with the teenage boy.

"I don't owe any of them anything! None of them every gave a shit about me, so why should I care about them?" He said, his voice beginning to raise.

"Wolverine, you're lashing out because of your anger. Maybe you don't see it, but all of your classmate care about you deeply."

"Yeah, like who?"

"Jean! Kurt! Kitty! They're all worried sick about you back at camp!"

Wolverine looked away, as if in thought, "why do you even care, 'Ro? This has nothing to do with you."

"You know, for someone with heightened senses, you sure can be blind sometimes, Logan." She sighed and slid her hand behind his neck, intertwining her fingers in his dark hair. She pulled him close and placed her lips softly of his, an action she had been denying herself for far too long.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 _A/N: I'm not even going to give a reason why this is so late. It's been a long time since I've updated. Also, the other half of this chapter got deleted and I don't really have time to rewrite it, so it's a short one this time. Sorry, folks._

 ** _Wolverine_**

Could it have been love? He wondered as he stared, awestruck at the beautiful, blushing girl in front of him. After years of knowing her, years of losing hours staring into her immaculate eyes, he had thought that his feelings for Storm were merely that of friendship. They had been of a platonic nature. But had they?

As he gazed into her warm blue eyes, just inches away from her soft lips, his stomach did flips and twists, longing to be somehow closer to her. He felt her warm breath on his chilled face and shuddered as her eyelashes gently brushed his cheek. He wondered how on earth he had not seen it; he, who prided himself on being a master tracker, could not track the thoughts of his own mind. It had been so blatantly obvious over the years, if only he had not been so focused on Phoenix.

Phoenix, the ever-present, ever-intruding thought in his head. Surely what he had felt for her had been love? Surely she was the one for him. Except he had never felt anything like that moment for Phoenix, even after all of his years of infatuation, nothing had ever felt like this.

So, Wolverine was left with Storm. She was what his life was truly missing. She was the thing he had wanted all along. He tried to etch every aspect of the moment into his shitty memory. Her face, just inches from his, the quickly rising sun, the fact that his pants had become a little tighter. He swished his tongue around his mouth, attempting to get every last taste of her.

He instinctively reached to his jeans pocket for a pack of smokes, his hand trembling as he did so. The laminated surface slid easily out of the denim material and the top fell open in one swipe of his thumb. The minute he drew one out, however, he felt the disapproving gaze of Storm fall upon him.

"I'm not kissing you again if your mouth tastes like stale smoke." She said simply, with a matter-of-fact tone about her voice. She crossed her arms and gave him a look that said, _I mean business_ , but didn't look as serious as she sounded.

His fingers rolled the small cylinder between them as he weighed his options. He really needed a smoke right then. It wasn't the same as someone who really was addicted to cigarettes, but it calmed his nerves and helped him focus a bit, even if only for a moment before his healing factor kicked in. Before he knew it, or even had time to really make a decision, his body seemed to act on autopilot. He grasped the pack in his fist and threw it as far as he could. Who was this vixen standing before him, and why did she have such power over him?

Wolverine tried his best to form a sentence, or anything the could tell the poor girl in front of him who was waiting for some sort of reaction, exactly how he felt. However, instead of words, a long string uhms and uhs fell from his mouth in one quick gasp. He had never felt so dumbfounded in his life. He tried once again to say something, but when he had no avail, he gave up and let his insticts kick in, which led him to kiss her again.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 _ **Shadowcat**_

It was easy to imagine what a life with the handsome Russian boy asleep in the tent next to her would be like. His huge arms wrapped around her each night, the sound of her name whispered in her ear. She dreamed of it more than she cared to admit to her fellow classmates, especially to him. Dreaming about him was simple. The difficulty lay within transforming a secret love into something real, something tangible. But thankfully, tangibility was Shadowcat's specialty.

 _Kitty! Uh-Shadowcat! Wake up!_ Phoenix's voice protruded into her thoughts, _Wake up!_

Shadowcat's arms flailed wildly in the air, passing through the head of the unsuspecting victim trying to shake her awake, "I'll get up later." She said.

"No, you have to get up now!" Phoenix insisted further.

Shadowcat merely groaned in response, flipping her pillow over onto her head so that it covered her ears.

"Quit bein' so nice all o' the time, Phoenix," Rogue sighed, "there's a snake in yer bed, sugah."

Within what seemed like less than a second, Shadowcat had jumped onto her feet, leaving her warm nest of a bed a pile of blankets. She looked down, and sure enough, a snake slithered in and out of the delicate folds of the blankets.

"GETITOUTGETITOUTGETITOUTGETITOUT!" She screamed through a long mass of indistinguishable syllables.

"Well Ah'm not touchin' it." Rogue said with her arms crossed, her hair wildly tangled from her tendency to roll around at night.

"Not it!" Psylocke called from the other end of the tent where she had been thoroughly enjoying ignoring the conversation and instead flipped absently through a magazine, her purple hair shimmering slightly.

Phoenix sighed and pressed two fingers to her temple. The snake lifted in the air and flipped wildly in anger as it was removed from the ground.

Shadowcat let out another scream as she watched the creature dance through the air.

"Shhh!" Rogue hissed, thrusting a gloved hand over Shadowcat's open mouth, stifling her scream. "Do ya hear that?"

Sure enough, just beyond the thin, dew soaked material of their tent, two boys were laughing furiously.

"Idiots." Rogue crossed the tent with an angry stomp and unzipped the tent rapidly, nearly ripping the fabric in the process. She grabbed the squirming snake out of the air, clearly getting past her own reluctance to touch the thing in order to get back at the boys, and threw it in the direction of the two figures barely illuminated by the early morning sun.

"Eek!" Came the unbridled, high pitched screams of Nightcrawler and Iceman, causing the girls to double over in laughter.

 _Come to the picnic table, all of you, now!_ The Professor's voice rang angry and clear through the heads of the six teens like an air horn. At once, they all stopped making any noise and did exactly as the professor said.

Shadowcat picked up her newly snake-free blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders to minimalists her shaking in the brisk morning air. As she exited the tent, she watched smoke tendrils crawl from her mouth as her breath froze in the cool air. She walked silently in line with the others, feeling the wet grass beneath her feet. Having grown up in the suburbs with not-very-outdoorsy parents, she had never gone camping as a child, but she was beginning to grow fond of the feeling of being one with nature. It was becoming exceedingly difficult to find anything other than monotony in the concrete jungle of the city, and the campground was a welcomed change of pace.

"What on earth was going on over there?" The Professor demanded, still wiping the sleep from his eyes. His harsh tone shook Shadowcat from her thoughts.

No one spoke for a long while. They all did their best to avoid eye contact with the Professor, some of them with their eyes fixed on the ground, a few of them looked around sheepishly for some sort of distraction that would save them from answering.

Professor Xavier did not flinch, "someone tell me why I was woken up so rudely this morning, please." He finished, with the "please" as almost an after thought to soften the sentence. "I would prefer not to have to get the information my self if you don't mind."

Shadowcat bit her lip and then released it, and her words gushed out afterwards like a ruptured dam. "The boys put a snake in our tent as a prank so we threw it back at them because we heard them laughing outside but really it was their fault because they started it and they did it while we were sleeping and it could have like bitten us!" She finally stopped her long string of uninterrupted words.

"Would someone mind translating that into regular human words, please?" Cyclops said with the haughty tone that he had favoured for most of the weekend. He'd shown up behind the professor, just as he always did when there was trouble. Shadowcat presumed that the whole 'leader' thing was beginning to go to his head.

As Phoenix began to translate Shadowcat's words in a slower tone, could feel the rest of her classmates' eyes burning on the back of her neck. They had appeared when they heard the commotion, and we're watching the scene with a rather amused curiosity. Shadowcat looked around to see Storm and Wolverine, standing awkwardly together, and she realized that she had not seen her since the night before.

Her eyes then passed over Colossus and her heart fluttered, he was staring directly at her! He looked away quickly, but Shawcat could still feel her heart pounding wildly. Was he just staring at her because she was staring at him? Did he have feelings for her as well? She had to know right away.

The Professor's voice remained as background noise, as he rattled off something about how disappointed he was in their behaviour, how they would have to shape up if they wanted to continue the trip, and that there would be a punishment for their actions, but it all went in one of her ears and out the other. Shadowcat was fixated on more important matters.

The Professor dismissed them until he and Cyclops could come up with a suitable way to get them to work together, and Shadowcat was free to execute her plan of finding out whether or not Colossus had feelings for her.

"Wolverine!" She yelled quickly, "I need to talk to you! Now!" She added when she noticed his reluctant expression.

"This had better be good," he grumbled.

"I need you to talk to Colossus for me." She said the second they were out of earshot from anyone, her big brown eyes staring him down intensely. "I need to know if he likes me. It's eating me up inside."

"Look, kid, I got more important thing ta do than find out if the Ruskie's got a crush on you. Just ask him yerself."

"No! That's weird, you have to do it! And don't call me kid, I'm only like, two years younger than you."

"Three, actually. What's in it for me?" He negotiated.

"The adoration of one Katherine Anne Pryde?"

"Not worth it."

"Fine, I'll trick Jean into meeting you somewhere?"

He looked away for a moment, almost as if making eye contact with someone off in the distance, "nah, I don't think Jeannie and I will ever be a thing..." He trailed off.

"Fine, twenty bucks?" She sighed and held up a crisp bill.

"Deal." He said, snatching it out of her hand.


	10. Chapter 10

**X-high Chapter 10**

 _ **Colossus**_

Colossus was rudely jerked awake from his deep slumber by the sounds of a young woman's screams.

"Illyana!" He cried instinctively, thinking of the young sister he had left back in Russia. As his breathing slowed and his eyes adjusted in the darkness, he began to realize where he was. In a stinky, sweaty tent surrounded by the sleeping bags of three other teenage boys, two of which were empty.

His eyes darted around the room and locked with Cyclop's, who merely shrugged at Colossus' questioning look. He stood up and slipped on some clothes and stepped outside the tent to investigate the mysterious noise.

A Colossus surveyed the campsite, he noticed that Wolverine's perch that he had claimed the day before was also empty. Behind him, there was a great deal of commotion occurring at the site of the girls' tent. He watched as Rogue threw a snake directly at Nightcrawler and Iceman, causing them both to release high pitched screams. He couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh at the boys' less-than-suave reaction.

"Cyclops!" He called into the tent where his classmate lay, still asleep.

A tired groan came back as a response. "Go back to sleep, Colossus. It's only five am."

"Comrade, come quickly!" Colossus tried to usher him out of the tent, "Nightcrawler and Iceman went through with their plan!"

Within minutes, Cyclops was standing outside of the tent, fully dressed. "Those idiots! I told them not to do it!"

Colossus followed a very agitated Cyclops down to Professor Xavier's tent, but hung back out of the way. Cyclops, on the other hand, joined the conversation and stood behind his mentor.

From his spot about ten feet away, Colossus could pick up snippets of what the group was saying. Due to his limited english, though, he was having difficulty understanding it.

Storm and Wolverine came to stand beside Colossus, who was grateful for the company. However awkward it may be. The two looked sheepish, like children who had gotten into something without the knowledge of their parents.

When the group dissolved due to the Professor and Cyclops' need to think of a punishment privately, Colossus was hoping for the chance to speak with Shadowcat. She, however, pulled Wolverine off to the side to talk.

Disheartened, Colossus went to speak with the rest of the group. "My, friends. That was quiet the, how do you say in english, show?"

"Yes, show is right, Colossus." Phoenix sighed. She was not one to get in trouble and was taking the punishment to heart.

"It was worth it!" Iceman said with tossing a block of ice in the air in a rhythmic fashion.

A 'humph' came from Rogue, "speak fer yerself, ice-fer-brains. Ah fer one ain't lookin' forward ta whatever Cyclops is plannin' fer us. He's gettin' pretty insufferable with all this power the Professor's givin' ta him."

Phoenix muttered something under her breath in response, but was quickly interrupted by a loud cough.

"We're ready for you guys now." Cyclops said hastily, motioning for them to join him as he walked.

He lead the reluctant group toward the clearing where they had held the obstacle course. This time, however, there were several stations set up.

"This was supposed to be our training exercise for today, but we're allowing those who were not involved in this morning's incident to sit out. Also, for those of you participating, we've made each station a little more difficult, and a tad more disgusting." Cyclops told them with a hint of a triumphant grin lining his youthful face.

There was a collective groan from each of the participants, and Colossus felt a great feeling of relief that he had not been involved.

"Oh, and before we start, there's one more thing." Cyclops added gleefully. "You'll each be tied to a partner that I've chosen by one hand and one foot. But, you can use your powers for most of the course."

A loud outcry of 'that's not fair' and 'this is hard enough already' shook the forest. Each of the students protested, but knew that it was no use.

Iceman was tied to Rogue, Shadowcat was tied to Psylocke, and Phoenix was tied to Nightcrawler. They looked around at each other despairingly as they tried to move but were caught up by the ropes.

"Ready, set, go!" Cyclops yelled, instructing them to run to the closest station.

Nightcrawler immediately teleported himself and Phoenix to the first station, the latter of whom folded over and began to puke from the experience. He continued to look at the first station despite her inability.

The first station was a long row of tires that the partners were supposed to step through without tripping. If they tripped or used their powers, they would have to start again.

Shadowcat's first thought was to try and phase through the tires, which warranted a whistle blow from Cyclops. Iceman and Rogue hadn't even started yet, and were instead still arguing at the starting line.

Nightcrawler and Phoenix still made it through the line first, with Phoenix once again returned to full health.

The second station was a series of disgusting foods that the partners would have to scarf down. Phoenix puked on sight of the display, and the pair was forced to sit down.

Shadowcat and Psylocke made it to station two next. Psylocke managed to block the taste receptors in their brains so that they could eat the required things, such as crickets, whole hot peppers, and rotten eggs, without a problem. The two continued on their way.

Iceman and Rogue had started at the first station, but had tripped so many times that they were really getting nowhere.

The third and final station was a large tub of a slime-like material that the participants would be forced to swim in to find a hidden token, which they would present to Cyclops.

Shadowcat phased the two of them through the tub until they could see the little slip of paper that was hidden beneath the murky surface. "Got it!" She exclaimed, only half covered in the slime. They raced over to Cyclops and presented him with the sip.

Cyclops smiled at them and opened the slip of paper for them to see. The smudged ink read, '50 push-ups, 50 sit-ups, and 50 burpees.'

The girls groaned but started out on their task.

Nightcrawler had begun to eat the items at station two, enough for both him and Jean, but was having difficulties getting past the appearance of the cricket. "It looks as if it could just hop away!" He exclaimed.

Iceman and Rogue had finally passed station one, but had reached an impasse at the second station, with Rogue refusing to eat any of the things presented to her.

Shadowcat and Psylocke finished up their list quickly, pushed on by adrenalin.

"We're finished!" Shadowcat shouted, grinning at Colossus before blushing and looking away.

"Very good," Cyclops said sarcastically, "you don't loose."

Cyclops watched the other pairs flounder about the stations for a few more minutes before blowing his whistle. They untied themselves and went over to join the others.

"I can't say that I'm not disappointed by you guys." Cyclops frowned. "That was a pitiful use of your powers and your partners all around. Go get cleaned up and we'll have lunch in a bit."

Most of the participants stalked off angrily to go get changed, but Phoenix stuck around, clearly put up with Cyclops' attitude.

Colossus decided that it was best if he didn't get involved in the affairs of his classmates and decided to retreat back to his tent. However, his plans were interrupted when Wolverine grabbed his arm along the way.

"Hey," the shorter teen said, "whadya think of the squirt, y'know, Shadowcat or whatever?"

Colossus looked him up and down, unsure of what he was getting at. "She is a good friend and very intelligent."

"No, like," Wolverine sighed. "Y'know what? This isn't worth twenty bucks. I'll catch you at lunch."

With that, the stalky teen was off to do whatever he spent his mornings doing. Colossus assumed smoking, but didn't care to look into it.


	11. Chapter 11

**_A/N: Two chapters in one day! I've been having a lot of writers block recently (as you've probably guessed), so the wonderful HarryB178 stepped in to write this chapter. When you're done reading this, you should check out his work. It's pretty great. Anyways, here's chapter 11. :)_**

 **X-high Chapter 11**

 ** _Psylocke_**

Psylocke sighed. People were so loud. Couldn't they keep their thoughts to themselves or something?

Ever since her mutant power had manifested, other people's thoughts had invaded her head, flooding into her mind. Humans were always critical or jealous of others.

Putting down her magazine, she decided to go and seen what the others were doing. She noticed Colossus standing by himself. "Hey," she said brightly, going over to him. "What're you doing?"

"Hey." Colossus replied, barely seeming to notice her presence. She followed his gaze and noticed he was looking at Shadowcat.

She sighed again. It seemed that everyone was becoming couples now. Storm and Wolverine. Phoenix and Cyclops. Now Shadowcat and Colossus. She walked away from the tents, intending to spend some time on her own. She saw Phoenix and was unable to stop herself from feeling some jealousy.

Phoenix. Why was she so popular? Most of the school didn't know she was a telepath. She just seemed to look at someone and have them lust over her. Even Wolverine.

Before her power had manifested, she had always been bullied for her hair. People had said it was ugly and horrible. At least she had given them what they had deserved.

At home in England, her older brother had taught her to fight to protect herself. It had come in handy when facing off people who annoyed her. Now, although people didn't mock her out loud, she could hear their thoughts directed at her. Psylocke sighed. In all honesty, she didn't have many friends. She tended to look into people's minds and find them too boring for her liking.

On her way towards the forest, she passed Cyclops.

"Hey," she said, smiling at him, but Cyclops merely nodded at her. Psylocke frowned. He was taking this whole leader thing way too seriously. She had liked him before this camping trip, but the power must have got to his head.

"Oh, Psylocke?" Cyclops called, as though having an afterthought. Psylocke turned around expectantly. She wished he would use her name instead of her codename. "Can you bring the others in? I have a task we can do." Cyclops ordered. Psylocke looked at his stern face and hard jawline. Was he honestly ordering her about?

She searched his mind. He was. "Yes, sir." she said mockingly.

Cyclops narrowed his eyes. "I don't like that attitude." he stated coldly.

Psylocke felt annoyed, but didn't particularly want to argue with Cyclops. "Sorry." she muttered quietly, looking down, before turning away and using her telepathy to call for the others to come in.

* * *

"Alright, I've decided to test you with a fitness challenge. I set up the course earlier, so if you'd care to follow me, I'll show you it." Cyclops stated, before briskly setting off into the forest.

Psylocke noticed Wolverine and Phoenix exchange amused glances, as the group began following him. She also noticed Storm and Wolverine were walking very close to each other. They arrived in a clearing with several sheets of paper on the floor.

"What is this, Cyclops?" Nightcrawler asked curiously.

"This," Cyclops said, looking at them very seriously, "is what will save your life. Physical fitness is very important and I have designed this circuit to supplement this requirement." He walked over to the first sheet of paper. "Here is where you will perform push-ups for a whole minute … do you find this funny, Wolverine?"

Wolverine was laughing. "Cyke… this is a fucking PE lesson." he said.

Cyclops stood up tall. "I think you underestimate the importance of fitness, Wolverine. Not everyone is like you." he stated, as though he had planned to say this.

Wolverine grunted. "Well, I ain't doing this." he stated, beginning to walk off, but Storm held him back.

"Wolverine, we're doing this as a team." she said firmly. Wolverine sighed, and stopped.

Cyclops smirked, and carried on, explaining the various parts of the circuit.

"I thought this was meant to be a vacation." Shadowcat muttered as Cyclops explained the exercises. Nightcrawler glanced at her.

"Ja. I guess Cyclops has a different idea of fun to the rest of us." he said with a slight grin.

Psylocke agreed with them, though she didn't say anything.

"Any questions?" Scott asked when he had finished, looking at them.

Logan yawned loudly, but Betsy spoke. "What makes your circuit so unique that we can't do it at school?" she questioned sceptically.

Scott looked at her irritated, as though he were surveying a nasty pest."Physical fitness is very important – we need to know how to fight outside of using our powers." Scott stated, not answering the question.

Betsy sighed, dropping the issue, but Jean questioned Scott.

"Surely we should be learning to fight then?" Jean asked.

Scott glanced at her, annoyed. "Can't we just get on with the circuit?" he snapped, making Jean recoil slightly. Betsy noticed Scott look slightly apologetic after this, but Jean was already making her way to the circuit.

Psylocke sighed. Their 'team' was not very united currently.


End file.
